#40 The Big Chill – Jan 4, 2018

We have all hopefully survived the 80 hours of below freezing temperatures. At least there wasn’t any measurable ice or snow with it. But it was a wakeup call to remind us to be prepared.
I like to tell the story of a former nurse who lived very close by, drove a small sports car, and had a large Great Dane that came to work every day. She seldom wore a coat even in cold weather, because “she lived so close”. And she didn’t travel with a leash because the dog was well trained. Well, one day we had freezing rain that turned to ice right at sundown, and she slid off Garden Ridge into a field while driving home. Her phone battery was dead, so she couldn’t call for help. Fortunately, one of our clients recognized her standing by her car without a coat, with her dog, got her out of cold, allowed her huge 150# dog in her car, and let her use her phone to call for help. Every year after that when we would talk about weather preparedness, we had that employee remind us all to carry a coat & leash, keep your phone charged. And maybe carry a bag of cat litter in the trunk to sprinkle if your tires need traction on ice.
Another common problem I see as a vet AFTER a spell of cold or rainy weather is dogs with urinary tract infections or constipation. Many dogs simply don’t want to “go” outside then, retain urine & feces longer than normal, and can set themselves up for problems. The solution is to encourage your dog to go outside anyway, even if that means going with them, carrying an umbrella, wrapping them in a blanket, taking them for a short walk, whatever it takes to make sure they eliminate urine & feces regularly.
If we have more icy weather, the last reminder is to make sure you are stocked up on your pet’s special foods and medicines. I don’t want Fluffy to run out of heart medicines, or Fido to be out of special kidney diets.
In the event of icy weather, I can’t guarantee we will open at 7:30 AM, or stay open until 6 PM. I insist my staff be safe. We want you to be safe too. In years past, there have been a few days when we opened at 9, or closed early at 5 due to weather conditions, but we try to alert all owners that have pets here or appointments if special circumstances arrive, just like the schools do. We actually watch the school districts decision to help make ours.
Watch the weather, and be safe out there.

#41 Texas laws on Rabies Vaccination

I received an email from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services with an informational guide to rabies vaccination for dogs and cats. The laws aren’t new but the guide brings clarity.
All dogs and cats in Texas must be vaccinated for rabies by 16 weeks of age by or under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian using a vaccine licensed by the USDA. The vaccine must be approved for that species, and given after the minimum age requirement and by the right route of administration. There are no exemptions to this requirement, even for medical reasons or by demonstrating measurable rabies antibody titers.
Animals should be boosted according to the recommended interval as established by the manufacturer, unless limited by local ordinances. Most rabies vaccines are boosted one or three year intervals. For a USDA licensed triennial (3 year) vaccine, the typical interval is booster 1 year after initial vaccination, and then every 3 years. For a 1 year vaccine, boosters are given annually. As far as I know, all the local cities and counties recognize the 3 year vaccine interval.
So what is the minimum age for dogs and cats? This is usually regarded as 12 weeks. So the sweet spot is to vaccinate for rabies between 12-16 weeks of age.
What vaccines does Garden Ridge Animal Hospital use? For dogs, I use Defensor 3 by Zoetis, approved for dogs, cats, and ferrets, has a 3 year label, and have use it for over 20 year with no problems. But for cats, I currently use Purevax Feline Rabies by Merial  since it is adjuvant free, but it only has a 1 year label. The non- adjuvant vaccine is recommended to reduce inflammation at injection site and prevent injection site sarcomas. No one wants their cat to get cancer because of a vaccine, but it can rarely happen. For ferrets, the Defensor 3 is approved with annual boosters.
What about very old pets or “inside only” cats? The law is clear that they must be vaccinated, and stay vaccinated. Realistically, an inside only cat isn’t going to spontaneously get rabies, but if they bite or scratch a human a series of events will happen that puts your unvaccinated cat in rabies quarantine, usually as a shelter. If a vaccinated pet bites a human, the quarantine time can often be served at home. All rabies vaccines are killed, dead, not alive. They seldom make pets even run a fever. The human rabies vaccine that I take is so safe I could get boosted even when I was pregnant. ( Yes, vets are vaccinated against rabies)
What if my pet was vaccinated over 3 years ago, and overdue a booster? Upon receiving a single dose of vaccine, they will be considered current, and assigned the maximum vaccination interval based on the license of the vaccine.
Why does the state care about rabies vaccination and no other diseases like parvo and distemper? Rabies affects humans, is 99.9% fatal, no cure, and the other diseases don’t. We vaccinate pets to protect humans.
For more information= https://www.tvma.org/Portals/0/Images/gr-18-rabies-guidance-DSHS.pdf?utm_source=Texas+Veterinary+Medical+Association&utm_campaign=e85243eed3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f14b6b00de-e85243eed3-140684925 Continue reading “#41 Texas laws on Rabies Vaccination”

#39 The Year in Review

Highland Lake Lodge
picture yourself here…..

2017 was another full year for Garden Ridge Animal Hospital.  We made a commitment to be trained in Fear Free Pet techniques https://fearfreepets.com/, and then started implementing them in everything we do.  It has really changed my patient handling philosophy by striving for a less scaring, more fun experience for our patients, and ultimately their owners.  Most of the time we use treats and toys, but sometimes we add antianxiety medicine.  This dovetailed well with my prior interest in behavior cases.

We commissioned a new logo that reflects the diverse species that I see (dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, reptiles, pocket pets).  You can see it at the top of the Home Page.  And I started this Blog.  I have written ~ 1/week since February.    Up to now, I have just posted in on my veterinary business website, gardenridgevet.com, but I have just launched a real Blogging website (HERE) , so clients can subscribe and recommend it to their friends. Drpamdvmblog.com.

We watched KC’s pug puppy, Eloise, grow up.  She just had a birthday.  It has been pure joy playing with someone else’s puppy.

After Hurricane Harvey, we fostered 3 dogs and 4 cats for the Houston ASPCA.  2 of our fosters were reunited with their families, one was adopted by a client,  and the rest were returned in Houston In November to find homes locally.

This fall we lost 2 experienced nurses, Christian and Sandi.  They moved on to other small animal practices in other cities.  We hired Charli, our youngest receptionist/room technician, and moved KC up to full nurse.  Charli came here from Louisiana where she worked for several years at a vet practice in Baton Rouge.   Monica, our groomer, has pulled some receptionist shifts when KC broke her arm this fall, which is healing up nicely.

On a personal note, my husband and I took a long car trip with the Dallas Model A Ford Club to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks.  We were gone 2 weeks, saw these national treasures from vintage cars, and took lots of pictures.  I wrote an article for the national Model A Ford magazine, The Restorer, and anticipate my cover shot and article will be in the January 2018 issue.  If so, it will be my 3rd cover shot and 3rd  article.

My husband and I also have some property in East Texas, and have just remodeled a 3 bedroom cabin from a Quilting Retreat to a weekend family/wedding country cabin.  The website isn’t up yet, but the Facebook business page is, under Highland Lake Lodge.

#38 Christmases Past

 

Blog # 38 Christmas stories- Dec 21, 2017
I like to reminisce this time of year of past Christmases.
When I first got out of vet school in 1982, I worked at busy 3 doctor AAHA hospital in Dallas on Harry Hines called Hines North Animal Hospital. We did a big boarding business since the building was older, had grandfathered outdoor runs, and there were few boarding facilities back in the 1980s. We would roll in banks of cages into all the back halls and cubbies, housing ~ 150 dogs and cats between Christmas and New Year’s. Doctors were expected to work on Christmas day to help administer all the medications and supervise the high school kennel staff. We usually helped clean cages so we could get home sooner. The noise was deafening sometimes (not to mention the smell). I didn’t have kids yet, so it wasn’t a huge imposition. I can’t imagine any vet boarding 150 pets at the holidays now.
I worked at Metroplex (the 24 hour animal hospital) in Irving in 1989 while we were building Garden Ridge as one of the night doctors. We worked 13 hour shifts, and that year I had just worked 3 of those shifts, got off at 7 am, and then tried to stay awake for the family festivities. I think I fell asleep during the dinner. I looked so sleepy in all the pictures!
When I first opened Garden Ridge Animal Hospital in 1990, we only boarded 20-25 dogs and cats, but no one really wanted to work Christmas morning. My solution was to have EVERYONE work, and we could get it all done in an hour. To make it more festive, I usually made a blueberry coffee cake and fancy coffee/hot chocolate for the staff. My daughter was 2 when we opened, and I doubt she remembers going to the hospital BEFORE opening presents.
One special Christmas, we were boarding a pregnant Husky. She delivered her 8 pups sometime during Christmas Eve night, and we were welcomed the next morning with 8 Christmas pups! It was our little Christmas miracle.
Christmas is still a special time, but the kids are grown, the boarding isn’t as crazy, and I don’t have to work on that day anymore. I kind of like modern Christmases.

#37 Computers and veterinary medicine- Dec 14, 2017

One of the many things that I proud about Garden Ridge Animal Hospital is that we are computerized, “paper free” (almost), and have been since 1990.  We started off using Apple Macintosh, and switched to Windows in 1997 when I got divorced from my Apple programming ex-husband.  I was lucky to find a small company that does Veterinary Practice Manager Software and could write the custom program to import all the Mac data into Windows, no nothing was lost.  Here it is 20 years later and I am still using that company.

I love computerized records.  I can easily pull up a patient’s medical notes, at any computer, and in seconds I have all the data, instead of hunting down a paper file.  I can easily see all the diagnoses, medicines, food, reactions at a glance. I can type a prescription label for Fido while in the exam room, print it in the pharmacy, and have a nurse fill it without me leaving the room!  It is easy to set a recall to check up on Fluffy.  But the biggest plus is all that data is backed up every night to 3 places.  Backups are wonderful, and rarely have we had to use them when hard drives fail.  Knock on wood.

Last week I had the misfortune to have a hard drive fail on the dedicated computer that runs the business side (emails, Quick books, etc.).  It was NOT the medical side.  I was flummoxed to say the least.  I had to keep telling myself that there were ways around not having the financial and email data while the computer was being replaced.  And since I back up religiously, my data wasn’t really “lost”.   But it has been a pain to look up the dozens of passwords to log onto websites, banks, vendors, email accounts.

My computer is now replaced, working again, and life goes on.  I didn’t want to think of myself as one of those “addicted” to technology, but it sure makes life easier when you can just log on and it remembers all those accounts and passwords.

What does this have to do with veterinary medicine?  It is my promise to my clients that their data and their pet’s data are safe and backed up 3 ways.  And if you ever travel, move, or seek specialty referral, it is uber  easy for us to email them or print them out.

As we move into 2018, we may be asking if you would like to share an email or phone number to receive texts instead of postcard reminders.  We tried this a few years ago, and most people didn’t want to share their email.  But times keep changing, and we have many ways to reach out to our pet parents.  So please don’t be offended if we ask you again about emails and phone numbers.  We aren’t selling them.  We just want to reach you in the format you would prefer to be contacted in.